With every technological innovation, new tools and new products are invented. Since the engine was installed on a carriage, the appearance of the car has gone through the development process of “box-type”, “ship-type” and “streamlined”, until today, it has become an ornament and artwork integrated into our daily life. Every change of appearance conforms to people’s cognition, demand and aesthetics of The Times.
In his book Emotional Design, Donald A. Norman argues that the look can cross races and cultures, and is meant to give the user that “Wow, that’s beautiful, that’s it, I want it” feeling at first sight.
In the eve of technological qualitative change, artificial intelligence products in what form into our home? Do Chinese users embrace these new species with enthusiastic anticipation, or do they keep a cautious distance? This is reflected in their choice of appearance.
Regardless of the dimension of time and space, there is no superior or inferior appearance. The right appearance on the right axis of time and space is undoubtedly the best way for a new species to enter a user’s life. And all these, and “aesthetic” Angle is often not equal relations.
This time, Baidu AI Interactive Design Institute and Hunan University School of Design and Art together, with intelligent speakers as the carrier, using abstract psychology and cognitive testing methods, try to outline the “time and space” dimension of the current Chinese users from the appearance preference results.
The research mainly includes the following contents:
* Research on appearance preference of intelligent products
Form preference: basic form, form proportion, size
Color preference
Material preference
* Research on style preference of intelligent products
Single product style preference
Preference for fusion of smart products and environment styles
I. Study on appearance preference of intelligent products
Appearance covers the core content of industrial design, and each point can be studied in depth individually. In order to facilitate the study, we have simplified and abstracted part of the work. After sorting out about 60 smart speakers and red Dot design competition works on the market, we summarized the type distribution of smart speakers in form, color and material, and carried out experimental design on this basis.
In each experiment, we provide users with different experimental models according to the above classification, such as the model of different forms in the shape experiment, and the plate of different colors in the color experiment. Users can observe and touch from multiple angles, and then evaluate the liking degree of each experimental model (5-point scale).
The findings are detailed below.
1. Shape preference: round and soft, moderate
Form refers to the spatial shape and posture of the product, which can be simply understood as the outline of the product. We disassemble the study of form into three aspects: basic form, proportion of form and size.
Experiment 1: Basic form preference
Four basic shapes of square, sphere, cylinder and ellipsoid were selected in the experiment.
Users tend to prefer cylinders, spheres and ellipsoids, with cylinders being the most preferred form. Users found the cylinder “regular and varied”, “space-saving” and “stable”. Users prefer smart speakers to be rounder than the boxy shape of traditional speakers.
User description Examples:
“More regular, not the most regular, there is personality in it.”
“Likes regular but not rigid forms”
“It’s soft and doesn’t take up space. It’s good next to the TV.”
“Personal preference cylinder, feels good, stable”
“Comparison rules and changes” also reflects the traditional Chinese aesthetic concept — “the mean”, that is, everything has a certain “degree”, not up to “less than”, “exceeding” is “too”, “less than” and “too” are bad results. “The mean” means to strike a balance, maintain coordination and balance, and avoid going to extremes.
In addition, female users are more likely than male users to prefer the cube, saying it is “solid, stable and scientific”.
Of the 60 or so smart speakers on the market, nearly a third are cylindrical.
Experiment 2: Morphological proportion preference
Morphological proportion can be roughly divided into three types: equal ratio, partial equal ratio and complete unequal ratio.
Users have the strongest preference for partial equal ratio form, believing that “slender form has better visual effect”. Compared with the monotony and specificity of the completely unequal forms, the partially equal forms “change just enough, but not that much”.
User description Examples:
“Long and comfortable to look at and like.”
“Slim and tall, good visual effect, a little better variation, but the variation needs to be moderate.”
Recently released a smart speaker in the external publicity specifically emphasized the use of the overall approach to 0.618 golden section ratio of the form design.
Experiment 3: Size preference
After summarizing the works of the existing intelligent speaker and red dot design competition on the market, we only get big, medium and small three basic sizes. In order to avoid the limitations of the study, we increase the maximum and minimum two sizes on this basis.
Considering the influence of different basic form and form proportion, the experiment was divided into two groups: square body with complete equal ratio and cylinder body with partial equal ratio.
The size of users’ preference is consistent with existing smart speakers on the market, preferring medium and small sizes. Users’ preference for size mainly considers the location of smart speakers, harmony with surrounding objects, and whether it is easy to move.
Users have strong negative experience of maximum size and minimum size, believing that maximum size occupies space and minimum size is easy to be lost.
User description Examples:
“[Medium size cylinder] fits on the living room table.”
“(small size square) easy to move, good size, suitable for tea table TV cabinet”
“Don’t like too small, easy to lose; It doesn’t work if it’s too big. It takes up too much space.”
The study also found that income level is a direct factor affecting users’ size preference. When the living area is small, the living area is an indirect factor affecting the user’s preference size. Of course, the income level is also correlated with the living area to a certain extent.
Based on the three preference experiments of basic form, form proportion and size, it can be found that users have the strongest preference to the form of “moderate but full of variation”.
A foreign study also confirmed this point. Daniel Paulney, a Canadian psychologist, studied the relationship between object shape and visual attractiveness, and the result is a curve shown below:
This curve clearly illustrates the visual complexity of the form and its effect on the visual attractiveness of the person. When the form is too simple or too complex, it is unattractive to the human visual system. Complexity to a certain extent, it will cause visual boredom; Intermediate forms (neither simple nor complex) are more attractive. Our research went a step further and defined the rough range of “intermediate forms”.
2. Color preference: black, white and silver
Psychological research shows that the human visual organs in the observation of objects, in the first 20 seconds of color perception time accounted for 80%, body perception time accounted for 20%; After 2 minutes, color accounted for 60%, body accounted for 40%; After 5 minutes each account for half, and this kind of state will continue to maintain, visible color is the most direct and rapid visual stimulation to the person. So what’s the best color for smart product design?
Experiment 4: Monochrome color preference
We have selected 11 pantone standard colors from the 2017 pantone standard color palette to create the flying saucer board. The flying saucer board includes flat, curved, and angular states, so that users can experience it from different dimensions.
In general, users tend to prefer black and white silver, the proportion of like (very like + like) is more than 50%, especially for white.
Users of gray, including warm gray and cold gray also have a certain tendency, like the proportion of nearly 40%. Highly educated users (bachelor degree and above) prefer gray.
User description Examples:
“White is a good match for things at home, simple and clean.”
“Black dirt resistant, atmospheric”
“Silver is more technical, more reminiscent of the metal color of the robot.”
“Warm grey understated, eye pleasing, moderate tone”
Instead of choosing a few fixed colors, there is another “skin” solution on the market, with products that can change coat colors, and products that can change components of different colors or materials.
3. Material preference: both traditional and scientific materials are acceptable
Material can be regarded as the combination of material and texture, is the combination of surface color, texture, smoothness and other visual attributes.
Experiment 5: Users’ preferences for materials
Metal, plastic, fabric, silica gel, wood, aluminum alloy and leather are seven common materials on the appearance of smart speakers.
Experimental results show that users generally prefer traditional materials such as leather and wood, but also accept modern and technological materials such as aluminum alloy and metal.
User description Examples:
“Wood is natural. It is closer to nature. It has vitality, texture changes, and texture is not cold.”
“Like the texture of leather and wood, high grade”
Faced with the problem that users can do both, the product needs to decide how to educate users. Participatory design, workshop and other methods can be used to create a channel of “This is the product I want” for users.
Users have a great controversy on the fabric, that is, the proportion of like (very like + relatively like) and dislike (relatively dislike + very dislike) is high.
This experiment does not involve the combination of materials, such as some products are combined with plastic and fabric, some products are combined with aluminum alloy and fabric, and some products are combined with leather and plastic.
Second, smart product style preference
The above is to disassemble the appearance into three major elements of form, color and material, and study them separately. But does this add up to a perfect smart product look? Not really. Just like the facial features are beautiful, but the combination of a person’s face is looking awkward. The form, color and material themselves also influence each other, and there are many complex relationships, which need to be combined with the function and technology to make corresponding trade-offs.
In addition, in order to design an intelligent product popular with users, users should not only design preferences for the appearance elements themselves, but also consider the style formed by integrating these appearance elements.
Style mainly includes two points, one is the overall feeling of intelligent products; The second is the fusion relationship between intelligent products and their environment style.
1. Single product style preference: modern and technological “smart”, home and retro “products”
This part of the study adopted the style preferences in the study of the classical mood board method, researchers and designers to the existing intelligent sums up the style of the product, after that occupy the home, business, perceptual and rational, culture, science and technology, restore ancient ways, modern, a total of eight mood board, let the user choose a favorite (present mood board, “Home”, “business” and other style words were specifically removed to avoid the impact of semantics on users.) The results are as follows:
The four mood boards of modern, technology, home and retro are the smart product styles that users prefer. At first glance, some contradictions may find these four style, actually otherwise, this reflects the user to intelligent product style has a very clear concept of “modern + technology”, “+” restoring ancient ways that occupy the home constitute two different feelings: “modern + technology” corresponds to the “smart”, “+” restoring ancient ways that occupy the home corresponds to the “product”.
2. Preference for integration of intelligent products and environment style: Integration is better than prominence
This question originated from our evaluation project of some smart products. When collecting users’ evaluation dimensions on appearance, users often asked the same question: “Does it match my home style?” And they are more likely to give a higher evaluation of the appearance of a product that “matches my home style”. So what happens in practice?
Considering that the home is the main application scenario of intelligent products, we take the home environment as an example to discuss the fusion relationship between intelligent products and environment style. According to the degree of fusion between intelligent products and environment style, it is divided into five levels, and users are asked to choose their favorite level of fusion relationship.
In general, users tend to think that smart products should incorporate the style of the environment, accept a certain prominence as decoration, or accept both. This means that the decoration style of space must be considered in the design process of intelligent products; In addition, when promoting intelligent products, emphasizing the sense of integration can move users more than emphasizing the sense of prominence.
Third, summary
Taking smart speakers as an example, this paper expounds the appearance preference of users for smart products, including form, color and material. And discusses the style that intelligent products should present and its integration with the environment style. We find that:
Through research, we can see the subtle influence of traditional Oriental culture on Chinese users’ aesthetics. At the time when artificial intelligence products enter thousands of households, users’ psychological demands for security affect their acceptance of the appearance of a product. We also use this report to think about what kind of look, behind these abstract elements, will enter the market and the user’s mind in a better psychological range.
Considering the uncertainty of user needs, the artistic nature of appearance and the limitation of experimental research, the research on appearance preference itself has some challenges. However, this does not prevent us from discovering user preference trends through research to support product development and design. It is hoped that this study can inspire more in-depth discussions and exchanges.
In terms of research methods, the experimental method + interview method was mainly used, accompanied by part of household observation; A mood board was used in the style preference study. In the research sample, users in first-tier and second-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Changsha are covered, and the ratio is made from gender, age, education background, income and user experience, and the living form information such as living area, decoration style, housing type and living status of users is mainly considered.
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Which of the results of the various user studies above are consistent with your established beliefs? What doesn’t fit your preconceived notions?
Welcome to leave your comments. We can carry out further research on the general problems.
The future hopes to “explore AI design with you!”
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